WHAT ARE BLEMISHES?

The first priority for blemish-prone skin is helping to reduce the risk of your pores getting blocked. If your skin type is oily (the skin type most likely to experience blemishes) then you’ll likely be up on the benefits of managing your excess sebum. Consistency is key. Some simple skincare maths for you: two times a day, multiplied by one double cleanse, one purifying toner plus one gel-texture moisturiser equals blemished skin that feels soothed and looks clearer. You’re aiming to help balance (not strip) your natural oils, and then restore the right kind of moisture to skin. Once you’ve mastered that, you’ve got a good thing going to help keep skin looking clearer.

Ensuring you’re not overdoing it when the sun comes out to play has a multitude of health benefits – nothing new, right? But did you know that the sun’s rays can also cause your skin to dry out, which causes sebum production to rev up? Just another reason to play it safe under those UV rays and include a good sunscreen in your skincare routine.

No surprises here – when our hands are out and about in the world, they can touch a lot of surfaces that might contain bacteria and other nasty stuff that you don’t want to come into contact with your skin. Reality is that before you get a chance to wash your hands, you subconsciously touch your face – many times, in fact. Adding this extra grime and gunk to your face creates more opportunity for blemishes to crop up. 

It’s suspected that certain dietary choices can impact superficial changes in the skin’s appearance. There are a few suspects, such as dairy, that are thought to be difficult for the body to digest in large amounts. If you reckon you might be reacting to something you’re eating, try a bit of detective work with a food diary to see if these foods are triggering more blemishes.

When we don’t get enough sleep, it doesn’t just leave us feeling groggy the next day. The effects are far-reaching. Firstly, it heightens our tendency to stress, which is said to cause androgen levels to spike, making our faces emit more sebum. Not ideal for blemish-control. When you’re depriving yourself of your full 8 hours, your immune system gets weaker, making your skin less capable of fending off blemish causes. Lastly, if you’re only getting cat naps, this lack of sleep will affect the body’s ability to effectively repair cells, which it normally does more quickly overnight.

This one goes hand-in-hand with a good amount of sleep. Your bedtime skincare routine will affect your skin’s ability to battle even one blemish meaning that if you’re not cleansing at night, you’re doing your skin a disservice. Removing the bad stuff you’ve faced during the day and helping to reset skin’s oil levels is key before you get to counting sheep. If you find you’re skipping a night time cleanse because you’re simply too tired, try removing makeup and washing your face as soon as you get home. Be faithful to your morning and nighttime routines and your skin will thank you.

The artificial air in planes has a really low humidity, which dehydrates skin. When oily skin gets dehydrated, our faces try to compensate by producing even more sebum. How to counteract this? When you’re next headed overseas, consider keeping a tube of moisturiser to hand during the course of the flight to help keep skin hydrated with touch-ups. Regardless of flight time, you might also want to exfoliate when you get to arrivals to help rid your face of dead skin cells and then moisturise the freshly exposed skin cells to help rebalance moisture levels.

Forget complicated scientific explanations, sometimes it comes down to this – if the skincare products you’re using aren’t a good match for your skin type or unique needs, you’ll be able to feel it on your skin. If you’ve got blemish-prone skin, try looking out for non-comedogenic products. These are products that are specially formulated so as to not block pores. Equally, try not to wash your face with water that’s too hot, as you might disrupt your skin’s natural balance, leaving behind an oil-heavy area for blemishes to thrive in.

Blemish-prone skin tends to be a little oilier, so an intensely cleansing face wash that helps to control excess oil is key if you’re looking to manage unpredictable skin. Our Tea Tree Skin Clearing Facial Wash is the perfect first step in your routine, morning or night. Enriched with blemish-busting salicylic acid and Community Fair Trade tea tree oil, it intensely cleanses and refreshes the skin, leaving it looking clearer. In fact, it’s proven to visibly reduce blemishes in just 7 days*. *Based on a consumer trial of 95 people.

Purify being the buzzword for blemished skin, it’s important to use a toner to help rid your skin of any lingering grime that wasn’t caught in the cleanse. Enriched with blemish-busting salicylic acid and Community Fair Trade tea tree oil, our Tea Tree Skin Clearing Toner helps skin to look clearer and more mattified. After cleansing, shake and use a reusable cotton pad to sweep it across the face (avoiding the eye area).

Want to help leave your skin feeling purified? The smallest of moves can make a big difference here, and our Tea Tree Daily Solution might be small but it sure is mighty. Enriched with salicylic acid for blemish-busting power and purifying Community Fair Trade tea tree oil, it helps to smooth the appearance of bumpy-looking skin texture – where the texture looks rough and uneven. Use after cleansing and toning but before moisturising, morning and night, and it’ll get to work.

Our Tea Tree Oil for blemishes is a little, targeted facial solution that helps to battle the appearance of blemishes. Apply as a preventive measure when you feel them arising or as and when you feel your skin needs something a little extra to help target blemishes. It is a handbag-friendly skincare saviour so you can also use it for touch-ups on-the-go.

This pocket-sized product is targeted blemish busting at its best. Enriched with 2% salicylic acid, this non-sticky gel formula feels fresh on the skin, gets to work immediately, and is proven to visibly reduce blemishes overnight*. It might be powerful but it’s still gentle – in fact, it puts in all that hard work without drying out skin.

*Based on a consumer trial of 103 people.

Water is perhaps the most fundamental human need, but beyond keeping your body going it has benefits for your skin too. If we don’t get enough H20, skin can appear more dull or even become dehydrated, which can cause sebum to offset this lack of hydration, and increase the chance of blemishes developing. It’s said that drinking sufficient water also helps to prevent toxin build-up which can contribute to blemishes. So make sure you get enough of the good stuff to keep skin hydrated, and better equipped to keep your natural oils in check.

There’s nothing nicer than falling into clean sheets. But did you know that clean bedding can also help to keep blemishes at bay? Every night you shed dead skin cells and lipids, which can build up on your pillow, encouraging bacteria to take root in your pores. At the very least, change your pillowcase at least once a week to help lower the chances of exacerbating skin’s oiliness.

As skin cells naturally regenerate faster while you sleep, it’s key to make sure you’re getting the right amount of time in the land of nod. Between 6-8 hours of sleep is what your skin needs to keep its natural cell regeneration process running as smooth as clockwork. Just think, in every day that means there’s 8 hours for sleep, 8 hours for work and 8 hours for whatever you like – could that be why they say three is the magic number?